Hon Hai Beefs Up Hiring In Taiwan

Hon Hai Precision Industry, which assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple, is beefing up hiring in Taiwan, its latest effort to seek new avenues of growth beyond its core contract manufacturing business.

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The Taiwan-based contract manufacturer plans to hire 15,000 employees in Taiwan this year, including engineers and other talent for telecommunications, e-commerce, biotechnology, automation, software and hardware development, Hon Hai said in a statement over the weekend.

The forty-year-old company is facing the challenge of transforming its business amid slowing growth. The company’s total headcount in Taiwan is about 46,000 and it has over one million employees in China where its main manufacturing facilities are based.

The new hires come as Hon Hai is preparing to launch its high-speed fourth-generation mobile services in Taiwan next year.

The company secured a 4G mobile spectrum license in Taiwan in late 2013. Its foray into the telecom market also reflects its ambitions in expanding into the more profitable industry.

Analysts said Hon Hai’s telecom operation in Taiwan is just a testing ground for its telecom equipment business. The company’s ultimate goal is to sell high-value telecom equipment and compete with major vendors such as Sweden-based Ericsson and China’s Huawei, they said.

To attract new graduates and global talent, Hon Hai said it will provide healthcare services and festival giftsto its employees. The company can also offer a global platform for its employees as it has operations in the U.S., Indonesia, Japan and China, it said.

Hon Hai, which employs more than a million workers in China, has been facing the challenge of rising labor costs and workplace disputes in the country. To diversify its manufacturing base, the company plans to make Indonesia a key production site in the coming years, Chairman Terry Gou said in January.